Law Med Blog

Kentucky Paramedic Sentenced To 2 Years For Tampering With Fentanyl

May 08, 2012 lawmed 2 Comments

MONTICELLO, Ky. – U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove sentenced former paramedic 49-year-old Susie Willis to two years in prison Thursday for tampering with pain medication carried on the ambulance.

In May of 2010, Willis admitted she broke the seal on at least two medication vials containing the intravenous narcotic fentanyl citrate. She withdrew the medicine for her own personal use and then in an effort to avoid detection refilled the vials with saline solution. She resealed the vials with crazy glue. Presumably the saline was administered to subsequent patients who were in pain and would have provided no relief.

Willis’ plea agreement stated that the saline solution could have caused “extreme physical pain or impairment of bodily functions” if administered to a patient instead of the intended fentanyl. She surrendered her EMT license in December of 2010.

Under federal law she must serve 85% of her prison sentence … (Continued…)

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Iowa City Sues Lawyers For Bad Advice In EMS Medicare Fraud Settlement

April 01, 2012 lawmed 3 Comments

From EMSWORLD

CLINTON, IA – The city of Clinton has filed a $3 million lawsuit against the attorney and law firm that handled the city’s $4.5 million settlement of a whistleblower lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Clinton County District Court claims attorney Michael Walker of Davenport and his law firm, Hopkins & Huebner, were negligent in the legal work that led to settlement of the lawsuit over the city’s allegedly fraudulent billing of Medicare and Medicaid for emergency medical service runs.

The federal false claims act lawsuit was filed in 2008 by a former firefighter and settled in 2010 for payment of $4.5 million over 10 years.

The city claims Walker and the firm negligently caused a “rush to judgment” in recommending the settlement, according to the lawsuit.

Ron Pogge, an attorney for Hopkins & Huebner, said Thursday, “We stand by the advice we gave them, and we’ll let … (Continued…)

Poor Patients Do Not Sue Their Doctors More Frequently

February 29, 2012 lawmed 1 Comment

From Springer.com.

Contrary to the common perception among physicians that poor people sue doctors more frequently, Ramon L. Jimenez from the Monterey Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Institute and his team demonstrate that socioeconomically disadvantaged patients, in fact, tend to sue physicians less often. Their work suggests that this myth may exist because of subconscious prejudices or stereotypes that affect thinking and decision making without doctors being aware of it – a phenomenon known as unconscious bias. Dr. Jimenez and his colleagues’ work is published online in Springer’s journal, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research.

Some physicians believe that, as a group, low-income patients tend to sue their doctors more often than other patients. This mindset has potential negative effects on the doctor-patient relationship, including some physicians’ reluctance to treat poor patients, or treat such patients differently from other patient groups in medical care terms.

Jimenez and team reviewed medical and … (Continued…)

Paramedic Errors: Chicago Will Pay $1.75M In Death Of 13 y/o

February 17, 2012 lawmed 2 Comments

A Chicago City Council committee has signed off on a $1.75 million settlement to compensate the family of 13-year-old Arielle Starks who died of an asthmatic attack after a series of alleged mistakes by Chicago Fire Department paramedics in 2002.

Starks died at Advocate Trinity Hospital after an ambulance carrying her to the hospital collided with a car. Another ambulance picked her up at the accident scene and took her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Attorney’s for the girl’s family alleged 3 crucial mistakes that day. The first mistake: the child was “intubated through the esophagus that leads to the stomach instead of through the trachea that leads to her lungs,” attorney Brian Murphy said. The second mistake involved ignoring a “standing medical order” issued by the Fire Department. According to Murphy, it states that if a patient’s condition worsens, paramedics are to make a direct observation … (Continued…)

Pfizer (Akrimax) Recalls 1 Million Packets Of Birth Control Pills

February 01, 2012 lawmed No comments

Pfizer pharmaceuticals has recalled 1 million birth control pill packets because they “may not prevent pregnancy”, which is certainly an undesirable property in a birth control medication. From their press release issued last evening:

Pfizer Announces Voluntary Nationwide Recall Of Lo/Ovral®-28 And Norgestrel/Ethinyl Estradiol Tablets Due To Possibility Of Inexact Tablet Counts Or Out Of Sequence Tablets

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pfizer Inc. announced today that it has voluntarily recalled 14 lots of Lo/Ovral®-28 (norgestrel and ethinyl estradiol)Tablets and 14 lots of Norgestrel and Ethinyl Estradiol Tablets (generic)for customers in the U.S. market. An investigation by Pfizer found that some blister packs may contain an inexact count of inert or active ingredient tablets and that the tablets may be out of sequence. The cause was identified and corrected immediately.

These products are oral contraceptives indicated for the prevention of pregnancy in women who elect to use oral contraceptives as a method of … (Continued…)

Green Tea Protects Liver In Acetaminophen Overdose

January 20, 2012 lawmed No comments

This is a bit of a departure from the usual content found on the Law Med Blog. Ten years ago I worked for a year or two at the Georgia Poison Center in Atlanta as a Poison Specialist taking calls that came into the center and advising on treatment. Calls were received from the public and also physicians and emergency rooms. One call sticks out and I have always regretted not publishing the event which occurred shortly before I left the center for another position. It involved a case of Tylenol poisoning which presented unlike any other reported case in the literature, or even known to the toxicology community in this country. A few toxicology blogs took notice of this Blog after our coverage of the toxicology in the Michael Jackson case. They may find this piece of some interest. We welcome any comments!

The call was from an … (Continued…)

“Miracle Awakening As Organs Were About To Be Donated” Story Is Bullshit

December 27, 2011 lawmed No comments

The Law Med Blog enjoys a good Christmas miracle story as much as the next guy. So when a couple of days ago we saw a story about an Arizona man who awakens from a coma just in the nick of time not to have his organs removed and donated, we were on the edge of our seat until we got past the headline. As we read one media report after another we came to realize that the claim of the last second “Christmas miracle” awakening as doctors were set to remove the young man’s vital organs to help those in need was complete and utter nonsense. The sad part is it appears that the media itself has created and perpetuated this false characterization of events and it could have a chilling effect on the already desperately needed increase in organ donor numbers.

Law Med does not have any special … (Continued…)

Muscle Relaxant Soma Now Schedule IV Controlled Substance

December 24, 2011 lawmed No comments

The DEA published its final rule scheduling Soma (carisoprodal) as a controlled substance on December 12. The rule takes effect on January 12, 2012.

From the FDA Law Blog of the law firm Hyman, Phelps & McNamara:

DEA Federally Controls Carisoprodol as a Schedule IV Substance, Establishes Regulatory Timeline

By Larry K. Houck –

The Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) published its long awaited final rule in the Federal Register today (76 Fed. Reg. 77,330 (Dec. 12, 2011)) placing carisoprodol into schedule IV of the federal Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”). Federal scheduling of carisoprodol follows control of the drug by eighteen states around the country. Effective January 12, 2012, DEA’s placement pertains to carisoprodol (widely distributed under the trade name of Soma®), and its salts, isomers and salts of isomers.

DEA’s placement of carisoprodol in schedule IV subjects manufacturers, distributors, dispensers such as pharmacies and physicians, importers, exporters, and anyone in

… (Continued…)

Remembering MSP Medevac Trooper 2 Three Years On [VIDEO]

September 26, 2011 lawmed No comments

Around 11:10 pm Saturday September 27th, 2008, Maryland State Police Medevac Trooper 2 responded to Waldorf, Maryland. The mission was to transport two car crash victims to Prince George’s Hospital Center’s trauma unit, between Washington DC and Baltimore, MD.

After lifting off from the scene with 3 crew members and two patients on board, the experienced pilot contacted the tower at Andrews Air Force Base requesting assistance with an instrument landing due to a sudden change in weather and low ceiling. Two ambulances were dispatched to the airfield to meet the helicopter and complete the patient transports.

The helicopter never arrived.

According to National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman, between the time the helicopter left its hanger at Andrews Air Force Base and when it was back in the same area, heading to the hospital, visibility had dropped from about seven miles to four miles. In that same hour, … (Continued…)

Medical Video Tube Is A Huge Free Online Collection Of Medical Videos

July 16, 2011 lawmed No comments

Law Med has become a fan of a new website that presents a collection of thousands of free videos for health care professionals. Organized according to specialty and searchable with keywords, medical, surgical, nursing, pre-hospital care and more, videos can be accessed for teaching, learning and latest advances. Content is continuously updated and growing. If you would like to contribute videos to the site you can register for free and upload content. But the site is 100% free, 100% of the time!

Check it out at http://medicvideotube.com … (Continued…)

1 Out of 3 Hospital Patients Victims of Adverse Events

April 09, 2011 lawmed No comments

A new study in the April issue of Health Affairs claims flaws in the current methods of measuring medical errors in hospitals has led to significant under reporting:

ABSTRACT: Identification and measurement of adverse medical events is central to patient safety, forming a foundation for accountability, prioritizing problems to work on, generating ideas for safer care, and testing which interventions work. We compared three methods to detect adverse events in hospitalized patients, using the same patient sample set from three leading hospitals. We found that the adverse event detection methods commonly used to track patient safety in the United States today—voluntary reporting and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Patient Safety Indicators—fared very poorly compared to other methods and missed 90 percent of the adverse events. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Global Trigger Tool found at least ten times more confirmed, serious events than these other methods. Overall, adverse … (Continued…)

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